Gervonta Davis and Jake Paul are set to go head-to-head in an exhibition showdown next month, and the lightweight king’s trainer has expressed his concerns
Gervonta Davis’ trainer Calvin Ford has concerns over one particular rule ahead of ‘Tank’s’ showdown with Jake Paul.
The two stars are set to go head-to-head in an exhibition dust-up at the Kaseya Center in Florida on November 14. With just over a month to go until the controversial clash, there has already been some pre-fight drama after the event was relocated from Georgia after the commission objected to the monumental weight disparity between the two fighters.
Following confirmation of the fight, many fans were left wondering about the rules of the contest. Their clash will be an exhibition bout, over 10, 3-minute rounds, as revealed by MVP chief Nakisa Bidarian. “There will be a victor because the fighters have agreed and the commission has approved a maximum weight of 195lbs for this exhibition. The fight will be contested over 10 three-minute rounds, and when Tank and Jake enter the squared circle to go to battle, they will be wearing 12oz gloves,” said Bidarian.
“Sitting ringside will be three commission-approved world-class professional judges that will score every round to ensure there’s a decisive outcome for the fight if it goes the distance. And both men are enrolled in the highest level of testing with USADA.” Paul is predominately a cruiserweight (200lbs) – despite moving up to heavyweight for his win over Mike Tyson last November. As for Davis, the American has fought at lightweight (135lbs) throughout the majority of his career so far.
Despite the huge weight disparity and the 195lb limit on fight night, Ford is more aggrieved with the fact that both Paul and Davis will be wearing 12oz gloves on fight night. “I said the fight was doable because I watched Tank for years and watched other young men in gyms deal with big guys,” Ford told Fight Hub TV.
“Yes, he’s big. To me it’s like Jake having his first open fights, if anyone knows about the amateurs. My only concern is the gloves because we don’t fight in 12 oz gloves, we don’t use 12 oz gloves, that’s training gloves. So my thing is, ‘Put Tank in eights, put (Jake) in tens.’
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“That makes the fight more interesting, and we’ll go from there. And I brought that up to one of his handlers, and they say, ‘No, we don’t want to do no mix and match.’ It’s supposed to be an exhibition…He can wear the tens and we wear the eights, then we got a fight.”
During a launch press-conference last month, Paul vowed to score a statement finish in November. “I haven’t got a knockout in a long time, so I’m itching. I’m just excited to be able to deliver that for the fans and have another most viral knockouts ever,” he said. Davis himself was quick to offer his take on how the fight will potentially play out. “I’m much quicker than him. He’s much stronger and much bigger, but we all know that it’s harder for taller fighters to fight a shorter one,” he said. “He’s decent and he’s gonna hold up for a couple of rounds – but once it gets hot in there, you know how things play out.”
When is the next boxing event?
Dave Allen is set to return to the ring on Saturday night when he takes on Arslanbek Makhmudov in Sheffield. Coverage is expected to get underway at around 6pm UK time (1pm ET / 10am PT / 12pm CT). In the main event, Makhmudov will make the walk to the ring first at around 10pm UK time (5pm ET / 2pm PT / 4pm CT) with Allen set to follow immediately after.
The timings of all fights are subject to change and will depend on how long the undercard takes to complete. All of the action is set to be shown live on DAZN. The popular streaming platform can be found as an additional subscription on TVs. It can also be streamed live on the official website or the downloadable app. A DAZN subscription is £119.99 or £14.99 per month, or £24.99 on a flexible commitment that can be cancelled at any point.